This invention relates to producing molded articles of polyethylene having a mottled or multi-colored appearance.
Prior art plastic molded compositions have been produced which incorporate `effect colors` in molded articles to give a multi-colored or mottled colored appearance. However, both the `effect colors` and the incorporation process itself tend to be expensive, and the molded article may have structural anomalies due to dissimilarities between the coloring materials and the polyethylene resin. For example, polypropylene and other resins are not suitable for the process and composition of this invention because they tend to be too brittle. Also, it is important to ensure that if a multi-colored effect is used, the colors will not bleed into each other, or simply form a uniformly colored mixture.
Consequently, a process and raw materials which are both inexpensive are desired to produce a resin composition which result in a molded product having a multi-colored or mottled appearance. The process should be capable of being implemented with existing equipment, and the resin composition should have good shelf life properties. Also, the coloring process and composition should not result in the colors bleeding into each other, and the molded product should not exhibit structural anomalies due to different colors being used.